SOUTH AFRICA: U.S. demands that Zimbabwe's Mugabe step down

Record ID: 455025

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: U.S. demands that Zimbabwe's Mugabe step down
  • Date: 22nd December 2008
  • Summary: PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (DECEMBER 21, 2008) (REUTERS) U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS, DR JANDAYI FRAZER AND OTHER OFFICIALS ARRIVING FRAZER ADDRESSING MEDIA VARIOUS OF MEDIA TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, DR JANDAYI FRAZER, SAYING: "Well, we are very clear, Secretary Rice, President Bush, have said very clearly that Robert Mugabe is a barrier to progress and he should step down, he should retire. His time is over, the power-sharing agreement should be implemented and it needs to be implemented with someone other than Robert Mugabe as the President." FRAZER ADDRESSING MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, DR JANDAYI FRAZER, SAYING: "We would move very rapidly to try to rehabilitate the economy by addressing Zimbabwe's arrears in international financial institutions. It owes about 1.2 billion USD in arrears to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, that United States would start rolling back our sanctions, the targeted sanctions on key leaders who are Heads of Ministries." MEDIA TAKING NOTES FRAZER ADDRESSING MEDIA.
  • Embargoed: 6th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA40URHW1XIPF0NTO1E786CSVZ7
  • Story Text: The United States will not work with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a U.S. envoy said on Sunday (December 21), signalling a shift in U.S.
    policy.
    Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed on September 15 to form a unity government, a pact supported at the time by the United States.
    But that agreement has unravelled due to a fight over control of important ministries.
    Since then, hyper-inflation in the once prosperous country means prices double every day and a cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,100 people.

    "Well, we are very clear, Secretary Rice, President Bush, have said very clearly that Robert Mugabe is a barrier to progress and he should step down, he should retire. His time is over, the power-sharing agreement should be implemented and it needs to be implemented with someone other than Robert Mugabe as the President," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer.
    Foreign governments and investors had hoped a unity government with Tsvanigrai could help reverse policies blamed for Zimbabwe's social and economic meltdown.
    Some 5 million Zimbabweans are expected to need food aid by January, Frazer said, adding that the United States was poised to help Zimbabwe's collapsing economy but Mugabe needed to step down.

    "We would move very rapidly to try to rehabilitate the economy by addressing Zimbabwe's arrears in international financial institutions. It owes about 1.2 billion USD in arrears to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, that United States would start rolling back our sanctions, the targeted sanctions on key leaders who are Heads of Ministries,"
    Frazer said.
    Some southern African countries such as Botswana have also pressured Mugabe, but the region's political and economic powerhouse, South Africa, has stopped short of saying the veteran leader should step down.
    A spokesman for South African president Kgalema Motlanthe urged the parties to implement the power-sharing deal. .
    Mugabe regularly rails against his western rivals, saying they are using cholera as an excuse to topple him and blaming economic sanctions for the meltdown. He argues Tsvangirai and the MDC are western puppets and has vowed "never to surrender" to attempts to oust him.
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